Home care cost calculator
A monthly care bill is arithmetic: hourly rate × hours per week × 4.33 weeks. Enter your numbers and you get the monthly and yearly figure, every assumption behind it, and where the rate came from.
Quick answer
How is a monthly home care cost calculated?
Monthly home care cost equals the hourly rate x hours per week x 4.33. We use 4.33 because a month averages 4.33 weeks (52 divided by 12), which is more accurate than multiplying by four. With the national median of $35 per hour, 10 hours a week is about $1,516 a month, 20 hours is about $3,031, and 40 hours is about $6,062. State rates change the answer: Texas at $30 per hour puts 40 hours at roughly $5,196 a month, while New York at $35 per hour puts it at roughly $6,062. The calculator on this page shows the verified rate for your state, the hours you enter, and the resulting yearly figure, so every assumption behind the number is visible instead of buried inside a single quote from an agency. Enter your own hours to see how quickly the monthly figure moves as the schedule changes.
What this estimate assumes
- The hour is billed at the state median rate for non-medical in-home care.
- Weeks per month = 4.33 (365 ÷ 7 ÷ 12) — the convention used in published cost-of-care surveys.
- You are paying privately. Insurance, Medicaid waivers and VA benefits change what the family actually pays: see what helps pay for care.
- No taxes, mileage, weekend or holiday premiums, minimum-hour requirements or agency fees are added, because no single official source states them for every state. Where we do have a verified source for those extras, it is on that state's page rather than estimated here.
How to sanity-check any estimate
- A weekly-hours figure is not a monthly bill — multiply by 4.33.
- Ask the agency's minimum hours per visit and per week. A cheap rate with a four-hour minimum is not the cheaper option.
- Ask whether the quoted rate is the agency rate or the caregiver's pay — they are different numbers, and the gap is the agency's margin.
- In-home care is usually billed hourly; facilities are billed monthly with level-of-care add-ons.
- If care is covered by Medicaid, the family's out-of-pocket share is a different question entirely.
Common questions
Why multiply by 4.33 and not 4?
A month averages 4.33 weeks, because 52 weeks divided by 12 months is 4.33. Multiplying by 4 understates the monthly bill by roughly 8 percent.
Does the calculator use my state rate?
Yes. It uses the hourly median we verified for that state against the CareScout Cost of Care Survey, and it shows the source and review date with the result.
Is this an official estimate?
No. It is arithmetic on a verified median rate. Your actual quote depends on the agency, the level of care and minimum visit rules.